Today's other soccer stories in brief
Season over for van Nistelrooy
RUUD VAN NISTELROOY is set to miss the rest of the Primera Liga season due to a knee injury, Real Madrid have confirmed.
Van Nistelrooy travelled to the United States this week to see specialist Dr Richard Steadman about his injured right knee and it has been decided the Dutchman will now need surgery.
Delap has no intention of chancing his arm at javelin
RORY DELAP has played down reports he could represent Athletics Ireland in the 2012 Olympics - in the javelin.
The Stoke midfielder has won widespread acclaim this season as a long-throw specialist and been described as a human sling.
He has worn the colours of the Republic of Ireland but is baffled by suggestions he could emulate Terry McHugh.
"They must be pretty desperate if they are scraping the barrel for me," Delap told the Stoke Sentinel.
"I did javelin when I was a youngster but gave it up when I was 14 or 15 so I could concentrate on football.
"I represented the county so I was decent at it, but I don't know if I am Olympic standard."
Kinnear to say sorry to referee
NEWCASTLE MANAGER Joe Kinnear plans to apologise to Martin Atkinson after branding him a "Mickey Mouse referee".
The United caretaker boss made his remarks after the official failed to award a free-kick to his team shortly before Fulham won the decisive penalty in last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
"I am sorry if my post-match comments at Fulham caused any offence and I will ring Martin Atkinson to tell him," he said yesterday.
DAVID BECKHAM has no intentions of staying at AC Milan beyond his agreed two-month loan deal, his spokesman insisted today.
Reacting to a report that Beckham was in talks about staying at the Italian club until the end of the season, his spokesman Simon Oliveira said the England midfielder would be returning to Los Angeles Galaxy as agreed in March.
Celtic fined €50,000 over fan incident
CELTIC WERE yesterday fined €50,000 by Uefa over the incident last week where a fan ran on to the pitch during the Champions League Group E match against Manchester United at Parkhead.
Part of the fine was imposed for the late start to the game which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Uefa confirmed that "an appeal may be lodged within three days of receipt of the grounds for the decision" but a spokesman for Celtic said: "We accept the judgment and there will be no appeal."
It is not clear how the fine was calculated but the Parkhead club were expecting some level of punishment after Uefa warned them previously about the behaviour of their fans following a similar incident a year ago when a fan confronted AC Milan goalkeeper Dida.
Brazil back at Emirates to face Italy
BRAZIL ARE to return to the Emirates Stadium in London in February for a friendly match against World Cup holders Italy.
The game, which will be played on February 10th, will mark the fourth time Brazil have used Arsenal's 60,000-seat stadium for a friendly match, having played Argentina, Portugal and Sweden there since it opened in 2006.
Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said: "Everyone at Arsenal is delighted and honoured to be hosting this international match between two of the world's greatest national teams. Brazil and Italy both have proud and very successful football histories and we are looking forward to welcoming the teams and many supporters to Emirates Stadium in February."
